Insurance and legal bills soar in review of Wilson Hospital School finances

Gordon Deegan

The secondary school at the centre of the jailed teacher Enoch Burke controversy last year appointed a team of management consultants and a firm of financial advisors to review its operations and finances.

This is disclosed in recently filed accounts for Wilson Hospital School Co Ltd, which show that the school’s insurance bill more than doubled in 2024 while its legal and professional bill increased sixfold.

The school recorded a surplus of €67,211 for 2024 and was sitting on an accumulated deficit of €61,073 at the end of last year.

The accounts show that the school firm’s insurance bill increased by 112 per cent from €65,230 to €138,966 in 2024, while the school’s legal and professional spend increased sixfold from €47,422 to €310,651.

The spiralling insurance and professional and legal costs coincided with the school’s ongoing High Court dispute with Mr Burke concerning Mr Burke’s continued contempt of court.

Mr Burke is now in his fourth spell behind bars for breaching High Court orders requiring him to stay away from the Co Westmeath school.

Mr Burke has now spent more than 520 days in prison and has been fined €225,000 for contempt of court.

An adjudication hearing on costs associated with the cases was told earlier this week that the school’s insurers have paid the school’s own legal fees.

The school’s detailed 2024 breakdown of its expenditure is no longer publicly available as they were contained in 2024 accounts filed on behalf of the school last month.

The first set of accounts have been withdrawn and a new set of accounts have been filed to the Companies Office - but the page containing the detailed expenditure has been omitted in the new filing.

The detailed expenditure was supplementary information filed with the accounts and the school was not required to file such information.

The school is a co-educational day and boarding school and last year its revenues increased by 19 per cent from €3.38 million to €4.03 million and it recorded a surplus of €67,211.

This followed the school recording a loss in 2023 of €139,938.

The biggest driver in the school’s income in 2024 came from its boarding students, where ‘residential services income’ rose from €1.7 million to €2.84 million.

The school’s expenditure included ‘bad debts’ of €289,168.

A note attached to the accounts states that during the financial year, the Board of Directors appointed a firm of professional management consultants and a firm of professional financial advisors to review the company’s operations and finances and to put in place an operational and business plan to bring the company to profits over a three-year period to June 2026.

The note states that the work of these firms “is at an advanced stage with positive operational and financial improvements being achieved”.

The directors are satisfied that the going concern basis remains appropriate based on their most recent assessment of the company’s finances.

They state that this assessment has taken into account three-year financial projections and budgets to June 30th 2026; implementation of operational efficiencies along with a cost reduction programme; management accounts for the financial year ended June 30th 2025, which show operational efficiencies and achieved and an improved Balance Sheet position showing stronger debtor recovery and reduced liabilities.

They state that the Board of Directors are in the process of developing a five-year business plan for the company with strategic goals and actions, which will set strategic direction for the company over the next five years.

The accounts made no reference to the Enoch Burke controversy.

The company’s cash funds last year increased from €25,187 to €170,757.